VATICAN CITY — For the first time in days, St. Peter’s Square was quiet Friday. But behind closed doors, there was a surge of activity within the Apostolic Palace.
Friday was a day of firsts for the newly installed Pope Leo XIV, including his first homily and mass as pope. In the Sistine Chapel, which until Thursday was the scene of the papal conclave that selected the first-ever American pontiff, Leo called for unity among the cardinals.
“I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me as we continue as a Church,” the Chicago-born pontiff said in English. The previous night, Leo addressed the throng of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square in Italian, Spanish, and Latin, but he did not speak in his native English.
Considered a longshot to become pope going into the conclave, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost was not well known among Catholics. But as more information about him circulated, it became clearer that he would likely be a progressive figure like his predecessor, Pope Francis, in style and on key issues like refugees, poverty, and the role of women in the church.
But one area where the new pontiff seems to differ from Francis is in views on homosexuality, where, as a bishop in Peru, he was critical of “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,” including “alternative families” comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.
He called gender issues “confusing” because they “create genders that don’t exist.”
Notwithstanding potential common ground in those areas, all indications are that conservative figures in the church are frustrated at what is being viewed as a second consecutive progressive papacy. Vatican watchers are nearly unanimous in believing that unifying an increasingly polarized Church will be among Pope Leo’s largest and most urgent challenges.
It’s an issue that went largely unaddressed in the final years of Francis’ papacy.
“If the new pope doesn’t pull the church together, he will not be able to address other areas, like the sex abuse scandals and Vatican finances,” one official who has worked with conservative cardinals, who asked not to be further identified, told The Washington Times. “Pope Leo has to make the right gestures to earn goodwill from traditionalists in the church.”
Those views were echoed in various conservative media covering the Vatican, including LifeSiteNews, which ran a column Friday entitled “5 worrying things you need to know about Leo XIV.” The piece highlighted the pontiff’s previous criticisms of President Trump’s immigration policies and the then-Cardinal Prevost’s role in persecuting conservative Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland and elevating Cardinal Robert McElroy, a vocal critic of Mr. Trump, to head the Archdiocese of Washington.
Italian media reported the new pope spent part of the day on Friday meeting privately with key figures, though specifics were not known.
The tranquil atmosphere in St. Peter’s Square was in contrast to the behind-the-scenes maneuvering and the large crowds and often raucous atmosphere in the square recently. The setting changed with the funeral for Pope Francis, followed by the leadup to and start of the conclave and then Thursday evening’s dramatic introduction of Pope Leo XIV, the first-ever American pontiff and the first pope to hail from a country where Catholics are not the majority.
Gone was the massive armed security presence that marked previous days, and metal barriers that directed crowds to specific parts of the square had been pushed to the sides.
Early Friday, a loud broom truck was zigzagging across the square, sucking up refuse left behind from the previous night.
“You know it isn’t as messy as I would have thought,” Massimo Viterbo, the 29-year-old driver of the truck told The Times while on a cigarette break. “These religious people don’t make that much of a mess.”
Jitendra Ghosh, 61, a native of Bangladesh who has been selling rosaries and other religious souvenirs near St. Peter’s Square for more than 20 years, returned to the square Friday after being barred for two days. He said he was waiting to figure out what supporters of Pope Leo XIV would mean for business.
“The people who came for [Pope] Benedict spent a lot of money, no problem, but [Pope] Francis’ supporters were more careful with their money,” Mr. Ghosh said in an interview. “Now I have to wait to find out what the new pope’s people will be like.”
